The first time we arrived at Icy Strait Point it was overcast and very humid.  There wasn't a sound as the ship glided to a stop just off shore from the converted cannery dock that served as the terminus for the tender run to shore.  Smoke from house chimneys hung in the air and curled around the high hills to blend with the low slung clouds.  Icy Strait claims to offer the "Real Alaska" adventure, and it appeared to have the perfect setting to fulfill this promise. The photo at the top of each of our web pages was taken on this morning.

Located on Chicagoff island fifty miles or so west of Juneau, this is a relatively new port of call for cruise ships with three or four calling each week.  The town of Hoonah is located on the north shore of the island and is the largest village for the Huna, a Tlingit group which has lived in the area since prehistoric times.    

Icy Strait Point, a few miles down the road from Hoonah, is where cruise ships tender their guests to.  From here you can walk or take a shuttle bus to town, go off on bear watching expeditions, ride the longest ZipRider in the world, walk the hiking tails near the pier or simply hang out in the converted fish processing plant - now an interpretive center and gift shop.  

For such a small community, the native corporation has provided visitors with many excursions that meet all activity levels and interests.  It is quiet enough here that a short walk down any hiking trail will leave you with the feeling that you are alone on the island.  There is so little boat traffic that whales surface and dive a few yards away for the pier.  If you are lucky enough to be on an itinerary that stops here, you will appreciate how close nature is to you.

Skagway came into existence when William “Billy” Moore and his son became the first European settlers to claim a 160-acre homestead in an area where the Tlingit people had lived and hunted since prehistoric times. Skagway, or Skaguay, has been translated from the Tlingit language to mean “a windy place with white caps on the water” or “Home of the north wind”, or as several locals like to suggest “cold place where crazy white people live”.  Skagway is known today as the “Garden City” because the rain and long hours of sunlight cause flowers and gardens to grow with abandon.

Skagway is a small town with a population of 860 in winter and over twice that in summer.  These numbers are dwarfed by the 900,000 visitors – most of them cruise ship passengers – who arrive during the short summer season.
Popular excursions include riding the White Pass Yukon Railway up the pass and into Canada or taking a Skagway street car tour of town in vehicles that were the original touring cars in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

The town is easy to walk around and the ships dock no more than a ten minute walk from downtown.  If you are lucky enough to have your ship moored at the Railroad Dock, you will have a chance to see the “Ship Registry” painted on the cliff face immediately beside your ship.  It is a long standing tradition that a ship’s name is painted on the rocks during its maiden visit to Skagway.  While no one knows exactly when this tradition started, there are ship names with dates back to 1917.

A good town to walk in and a great place to ride in antique cars and trains.  Mind the wind though, it can be chilly!

We arrived in Cartagena, Colombia on-board Coral Princess on a typically hot and humid day in December. The port was celebrating an anniversary and had a sound stage set up on the pier. School groups as well as professional musician took turns filling the air with the driving rhythm of Latin music and singing. As this was our first visit to Cartagena, we appreciated the musical welcome that emphasized that we were now on a new continent and in a new and vibrant culture.

Cartagena is a city of extremes – new high rises and colonial architecture all exist within a few minute’s drive of each other. The best thing for travellers is to walk the streets of the colonial city and feel the excitement of the place. The heat settles over you like a warm wool blanket and you naturally slow down and seek the relief of the shade. Vendors prowl the streets everywhere offering to sell leather goods, toys, sunglasses or $25 Rolex watches. While the vendors are friendly and don't appear to be threatening in any way, they have no sense of personal space and will engage you in negotiations for their wares several inches from your face.

We had opted for a walking/bus tour of the city and on the ground we worked hard to keep up with our tour guide - a wonderful lady of a "certain age" who scampered through sun-baked plazas, through cathedrals and museums holding up a closed umbrella that quickly disappeared into the distance.

Later in the afternoon she led us up Fort of San Felipe, a huge 17th century fortress, like some adolescent lemur trailing puffing tourists in her wake. Let me just say that it's not nice to march gringos up such tall structures in the middle of the afternoon, but in spite of feeling like porters on a mountain trek, we made it to the top and back. Oxygen bottles would have been nice though.

This is a fascinating city and in spite of the fact that at the end of an independent or conducted tour you are going to feel like you were using a stair-master in a sauna, it's the kind of place that will draw you back again. The people are friendly and the history of this place oozes from every colonial door. Do yourself a favour and find a reason to visit this incredible city.